Mr. Bright Wireko Brobbey, the deputy minister for Employment has indicated that his outfit has been engaged by the Finance Minister to spell out the modalities for the unemployment insurance scheme.
At the mid-year budget reading, the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed that government will set up an unemployment insurance scheme to support employees who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.
Speaking at the Joy Business jobs and salary roundtable discussion, Mr. Brobbey also revealed the total number of people who have been rendered jobless due to the pandemic will be publicized in the ensuing weeks.
“That exists and to some extent the law also mandates which ever institution and organization that is facing challenges, especially that of COVID as it were, to notify the labour department of how it intends to, if it has to even lay off people, if it has to go redundant. So the burden is placed on the institution to get to the labour department with these kinds of information”.
Bright Wireko Brobbey
“To that extent, we have some which I can churn out in the course of time but that doesn’t cover the entire country, it is those who have been able to get to the labour department and say because of Covid, I have this challenge so I am laying off some of my workers and then we get the number”.
Mr. Brobbey urged owners and leaders of organizations to be forthcoming with information concerning the state of their businesses and report findings to the labour department for subsequent redress.
“But then beyond that we have commissioned a holistic study to be able to tell the story of the whole country and let the people know that these are the effects of the COVID on unemployment that will come in the next couple of weeks” he added.
Unemployment scheme laudable but lacks data
On July, 24, Minority Leader in Parliament lauded the Finance Ministry’s initiative to establish a national unemployment insurance scheme.
Haruna Iddrisu, however, noted that the scheme will be unachievable without data or statistics on the country’s unemployment rate.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta during the Mid-year Budget review announced that the scheme would be targeted at those who have lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The scheme aims to provide temporary income support to workers who have been laid off since the virus first hit the country and will also aim to provide training for jobs in new fields of work.
Mr. Iddrisu, explained that unless there are statistics to differentiate between those who were unemployed prior to the pandemic versus those who were affected by the pandemic, the Ministry should instead focus on providing packages for groups of affected industries.
“Those young men and women who work in hotels, don’t have a life today. Those who were working in bars and restaurants don’t have a life today. So we should have been announcing a package just like you did salary for frontline workers”.
The erstwhile Employment Minister added that the alternative to establishing an insurance cover scheme based on unreliable statistics would be to get the details of the affected groups from their employers in the hospitality sector.
The Tamale South MP said based on that, give them a fraction of their regular monthly salary as an insurance cover.
“If your company was paying you ¢600 and because of Covid-19, the government will give you ¢300 or ¢200, as insurance cover, then I will hail the Ministry.”
